Victim’s family in Pomeroon boat mishap wants Coast Guard to compensate

Apr 30, 2020 News

It has now been more than a week since 32-year-old Ryan Khayum lost his life, Coast Guard vessel slammed the rear end of his boat in the Pomeroon River. While the Coast Guard remains in police custody, relatives of the now dead farmer are seeking compensation from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) in a number of areas.

Ryan Khayum

The damaged boat and engine

The dead farmer’s mother, Debby Khayum, told Kaieteur News that her family is requesting compensation for Khayum’s funeral, the damaged boat and damaged outboard engine. On April 20, 2020, the GDF vessel collided with the rear end of Khayum’s vessel. The incident occurred sometime around 09:00 pm as the farmer was returning home from Charity with his wife and two cousins [and not two uncles as initial reports had stated].
Khayum met his watery demise just moments after sustaining multiple slashes about his body, while his wife and cousins were rushed to the Oscar Joseph Hospital, Charity where they were treated and later discharged.
According to family members, five ranks of the GDF visited their home the day following Khayum’s funeral offering compensation. Mrs. Khayum claims that to date, there has been no compensation from the GDF despite repeated requests.
She went on to say, “five GDF men who claimed that he was the head of the Pomeroon base, they come the day after the funeral and claim that they gonna cover all the expense, but to date no compensation… he [Khayum] was the sole bread winner and the boat and the engine he use to rent. Right now the boat destroyed and that worth two million, the engine is about 800,000… the funeral and additional expenses were about $2 million.”
Kaieteur News understands that Khayum had entered the farming business just a few months after quitting work in the mining sector.

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